This is a unit I wrote 4 years ago, I decided I need to post it here. As you can see, we are very hands-on in school. I hope it inspires you.

I am lucky enough to live in Poulsbo, WA.which is a Norwegian town and is steeped in wonderful traditions. One of our favorites is at Christmas time. Poulsbo is on Liberty Bay and Saint Lucia is brought in on a Viking boat across the bay. It is sooo beautiful to see the torches from the boat and the lights from Saint Lucia's crown reflecting on the water. Saint Lucia is escorted off the boat by Vikings dressed in full gear to a bonfire which is lit. Needless to say my daughters have always been enchanted by this and this year Chloe (8) gets to be Saint Lucia. I wanted to take all these beautiful ideas and put them in a unit for our family. We will be scrapbooking this and hopefully it will be something wonderful Aubern'e and Chloe will always remember.

I am grouping this unit by ideas. We will be reading lots of books and watching videos as we do this study. I will list the books and videos we used at the end. We are very hands on in our units. There is so much more we could have done but I have tailored this unit to fit the interests of our family. Hopefully this will be a jump off point for you.

The Ideas.....

Idea 1. Julbock-Goat

Julbock is the goat that Jultomten (Elf, like Santa) rides. There is a site on line that shows, step by step, a straw goat being made.

Baking is such a Swedish and Norwegian tradition. There are hundreds of cookies we could bake (and will) but we will bake Peppernuts. The girls have never made them, so they will be new to them. I have a wonderful little book called " Peppernuts Plain and Fancy " by Normas Jost Voth. Which has lots of information and has 2 dozen recipes. We are going to cut our dough with a thimble. You do not have to cut the cookies this small. Here is a recipe from the book.

We made a Jultomten out of pine cones. Glue a wooden bead (for a head) of the top (pointed end) of a pine cone (the body). You can paint a face on the bead if you want. Glue a tuft of wool for a beard and make a little red cap out of wool.

There is a tradition of setting out a bowl of Julgrot (Christmas rice pudding) for Jultomten on Christmas eve.

Idea 10. Dalahast

Dala horse is a most recognizable symbol of Sweden. It is a painted horse.

Since I could not get these unpainted, I made them myself. They are a very simple shape. I made an armature out of foil and covered it with paper clay. After it dried, the girls could paint them themselves. Here you can see what they look like.

Idea 11. Finally, Saint Lucia

We will make a wreath for Chloe. I think I will wrap twinkle lights around a small wreath for her to wear on her head. There are wreaths with electric candles you can buy as well.

And of course Lussekatter, Lucia Buns In Scandinavian homes, the feast of St. Lucia (Dec 13) is marked by the serving of these buns. Traditionally, they are served by a young girl wearing a wreath with lighted candles on her head.

Dry the saffron on a saucer in a 250 oven for 15 - 20 minutes and then crumble it with the back of a spoon. Hull the cardamom seed (reserving the pods) and grind the seeds in a mortar.

Proof the yeast with the 1 tsp sugar in the lukewarm water. Scald the cream almost to the boiling point with the pods of the cardamom. Strain off the pods and discard. Add the saffron, remaining sugar, and butter and let stand. When lukewarm add the beaten eggs. Check temperature and add proofed yeast. Mix ground cardamom with flour and add to yeast mixture, beaten until dough cleans the sides of the bowl. Turn out and let rest covered with the bowl for 15 minutes. Kneed on a well floured board until smooth and elastic. Place in greased bowl; cover and let rise till double. Punch down, turn out and work in raisins, reserving a few for decoration. Roll the dough into pencil thin strips and shape, as given on the opposite page, for traditional buns. Place on greased baking sheets, covered with a tea towel, and let rise till double. Brush with egg yolk beaten with 1 tbls of water Bake 12-15 minutes in 400 oven.

The shapes for the St. Lucia buns have these names:

Wagon Wheel Cut two strips 10 inches long. Place side by side, pinch together at center and coil ends. Place Raisins in center of each coil. (you'll have 4 coils joined together.

Joseph's Beard Cut three strips, one 10 inches long, one 8 inches and one 6 inches. Bend shortest strip into an upside down U shape with the ends flipped up into coils. Place second longest strip underneath the U and form it into a similar shape with the ends coiled.. then do it again with the longest one.

Twist Cut one strip 8 inches long. Coil each end in opposite directions. Place raisin in center of each coil.

Goat Cut one strip 10 inches long. Pinch at center to make a v. Coil each end downward to make horns. Place raisins in center of coil.

Lucia Cross Cut two strips 6 inches long. Cross them to form an X and coil ends. Place raisins in center of each coil.

Star of Bethlehem Cut two strips 10 inches long. Shape each into a triangle. Lay one over the other, pointing in opposite directions.

Lastly I get a lot of e-mails of people looking for battery run crowns. Nordic Maiden, in Poulsbo carries them. It is a wonderful shop (we go in all the time). Please tell them Storybook Woods sent you.

Also thank you to Jody, who had hosted my unit on her site for several years xoxox

Comments

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Hi, I enjoyed seeing your site.I remember a library book from my childhood (about 1971) in which a little girl puts out a julenek for the birds. Do you know which book I am remembering? I would love to find a copy of it for my children to see. Thanks, Margaret Sorrell in Georgia

Now I really am envious Clarice, yourtown sounds enchanting and the Viking/Scandinavian atmophere must be fantastic. I'm familiar with many of the items you listed as we have strong Viking link in our area also but nothing as colourful and memorable as yours. I will look forward to more pics soon. Tell Chloe...once whe has got over the excitement I'm expecing a view of her doll house decorated for Christmas... perhaps ith a few Carl Larson pictures on the wall!! Love Eli

My Grandmother was Swedish...both her parents immigrated to the United States around the turn of the last century...so these stories speak to me very much. I love the Swedish style of decorating and the folk tales and Saint Lucia day on December 13th...the hot cross buns...the cookies and light crown on the eldest daughter. Thank you for sharing your Scandinavian adventure with us! I love all your projects and resources. You are amazing.
Warmly,
Tracey

wow, what a fabulous post Clarice, I can only imagine all the work that all took !! I learned so much myself!! Thanks for sharing such interesting in detail, I wish you were my teacher!! :)
Thanks so much for your sweet comments too! Happy Holidays!

I love reading about what homeschool families do to bring
lessons alive.

A few years ago my son in laws 4th grade class got together and decided that each child would give him a
gift that represent their holiday family traditions…

It was wonderful , he received a peppermint Pig, Wok, a pickle ornament, books,
woven paper hearts, English poppers….and more.
He bought some of the items over on Christmas day so that as a family we could
Share some of his class traditions … it was the best and with each gift there was
a little note from the student explaining the tradition. I think it’s a class he will always remember…

Chloe must be so excited to be Santa Lucia. I love those old traditions from Europe. They say much about celebrating with meaning.
I just looked on a map to find Poulsbo and see that you are not too far away from me (Victoria). We're probably "enjoying" the same rainy weather today.

This is a wonderful resource Clarice. I live in a part of our city that was settled by Swedish and Norwegian immigrants, so I'm very familiar with many of these wonderful traditions. It's such a wonderful culture, I think.